Wearing a Mask, Making a Contrast
Alex Lu
2012/10/24
ENG2100+2150
Professor Lombardi
Wearing a Mask, Making a Contrast
“Under the Red, White, and Blue then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry ‘Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!’” This beautiful and connotative quote appears at the beginning of the novel, The Great Gatsby. Gatsby wearing his gold hat, a kind of masks represent wealthy and upper class, dream one day he could have Daisy again. As a matter of fact, not only Gatsby, but also other main characters involved in this masterpiece all put on their own false fronts in order to chasing their dreams of life. However, the reality makes them back to earth. Those contrast between dream and reality happened in the novel deeply express their characteristic so far as to the true reason of the Great Gatsby’s tragedy.
First of all, Gatsby, who appears in the title of novel, is the most significant character we should analysis. His false fronts can be concisely concluded from the quote at the very beginning---The Golden Hat, a simple but accurate symbol, show readers that Gatsby live a very luxury but vacuous life; it seems that Gatsby who wearing a brilliant hat dance and bounce in order to cheer Daisy up, hope those material stuff, which also let Gatsby lose Daisy, can help him win Daisy back. * Gatsby deliberately builds up an image that a secret rich man who hold luxurious parties every night, Meanwhile, no one knows him clearly include his only friends Nick. The following piece of writing, which impressed me most in whole story, can show that Gatsby try his best to leave everyone a good impression, a gentle man he is. “It faced - or seemed to face - the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that
2012/10/24
ENG2100+2150
Professor Lombardi
Wearing a Mask, Making a Contrast
“Under the Red, White, and Blue then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry ‘Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!’” This beautiful and connotative quote appears at the beginning of the novel, The Great Gatsby. Gatsby wearing his gold hat, a kind of masks represent wealthy and upper class, dream one day he could have Daisy again. As a matter of fact, not only Gatsby, but also other main characters involved in this masterpiece all put on their own false fronts in order to chasing their dreams of life. However, the reality makes them back to earth. Those contrast between dream and reality happened in the novel deeply express their characteristic so far as to the true reason of the Great Gatsby’s tragedy.
First of all, Gatsby, who appears in the title of novel, is the most significant character we should analysis. His false fronts can be concisely concluded from the quote at the very beginning---The Golden Hat, a simple but accurate symbol, show readers that Gatsby live a very luxury but vacuous life; it seems that Gatsby who wearing a brilliant hat dance and bounce in order to cheer Daisy up, hope those material stuff, which also let Gatsby lose Daisy, can help him win Daisy back. * Gatsby deliberately builds up an image that a secret rich man who hold luxurious parties every night, Meanwhile, no one knows him clearly include his only friends Nick. The following piece of writing, which impressed me most in whole story, can show that Gatsby try his best to leave everyone a good impression, a gentle man he is. “It faced - or seemed to face - the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that